With the present new-laid ten inches of snow for a text, one might preach a pithy sermon upon the distress this vigorous winter has brought, in Hartford, to many a fireside where there is no fire. But no doubt it is sufficient to say that Mr. Hawley knows of a great many widows [& little children here who suffer from cold & hunger every day &] every night, & yet the means he is able to gather up fall far short of being enough to relieve them. He has made some strong appeals for aid, through the press, & they have been responded to with considerable liberality; but still the empty mouths & the fireless hearths are so many that he is pretty well discouraged. His appeals are not in behalf of able-bodied tramps who are too lazy to work, but in behalf of women & children—women broken down by illness & lack of food, & children who are too young to help themselves. If I were to go into details & tell what Father Hawley knows about these blameless unfortunates, the purse-strings of this benevolent old city would relax with one impulse, & the trouble would be at an end.1
Now several of us have conceived the idea that we might raise a thousand dollars for Father Hawley’s clients through the medium of a lecture to be given at Allyn Hall next Friday night by the undersigned. I am thoroughly & cheerfully willing to lecture here for such an object, though I would have serious objections to talking in my own town for the benefit of my own pocket—we freebooters of the platform consider it more graceful to fly the black flag in strange waters & prey upon remote & friendless communities.
We desire that all the proceeds of the lecture shall go into Father Hawley’s hands; therefore we called for volunteers to pay the expenses of hall rent, advertising, [&c.], & his excellency the governor of the state promptly offered to foot the whole bill, but as a dozen other prominent citizens demanded a chance, we let them have it, for there is nothing mean about us. When we appeal for liberality in others we are willing to be generous ourselves. One of the first merchants of Hartford, one of her most capable & energetic business men, has shouldered the whole work of advertising & managing the business details of our enterprise, & it will be done well. He gives to it, for nothing, time which is worth a [great] many dollars a day to him.2
The price of our tickets will be one dollar each, all over the house—& reserved seats can be secured at [Brown &] Gross’s3 without extra charge. We hear of parties who are taking from ten to fifty of them, & we receive the news with high gratification—we place the tickets at double price for several reasons. One is, the lecture itself being worth nearly twenty-five cents, the ticket purchaser would really be giving only about twenty-five to the charity if the tickets were fifty cents; but by making the price a dollar, the purchaser has a chance to make a good honest undefiled contribution of seventy-five to charity. The idea is mine—none but an old business head would have thought of an attraction like that. Another reason for high prices is, that charity is a dignified & respect-worthy thing, & there is small merit about it & less grace when it don’t cost anything. As a general thing, charity entertainments are the cheapest that are offered to the public,—& that is paying but a poor compliment to the public. One would suppose that the idea was to get the thing down to a figure that would enable the hungry poor to attend their own entertainments & support themselves. Now that cannot be right—it cannot be either just or generous.
Lucca charges $4 a ticket, & so my first idea was to put our tickets at $4, too, & run opposition. But friends said, no, there was a difference—Lucca sings.4 I said, very well, I would sing, too. I showed them what I could do. But they still objected, & said that a mere disturbance was not singing. So I have come down to a dollar; but I do it with reluctance.
I must not deceive any one; therefore I will say, in parenthesis, as it were, that I am going to deliver a lecture that I delivered here before the Young Men’s Institute two or three years ago—a lecture on the Sandwich Islands.5 I do this because Father Hawley’s need is so pressing that I have not time to prepare a new lecture; I happen to be just fixed & primed for this Sandwich Island talk, for the reason that I have been rubbing it up to deliver before the New York Mercantile Library [some] ten days hence. Now we offer these following terms: all who have not already heard the lecture can pay a dollar & come in; & all who have heard it before can commute for two dollars apiece, & remain at home if they prefer. In which case the police will be instructed not to disturb them. But if they come to the hall they must behave, & not cry over old jokes that merely made them sad when they heard them before.
We would like to have a thousand dollars in the house; we point to the snow & the thermometer; we call Hartford by name, & we are not much afraid but that she will step to the front & answer for herself.6
Will the other papers please copy?7
Mark Twain
Hartford, Jan. 28.
Explanatory Notes | Textual Commentary
man whose pity went spontaneously out to all that
suffer. ... He was not a clergyman, nor an officer in any church; he
was merely a plain, ordinary Christian; but he was so
beloved—not to say worshiped—by all ranks and
conditions of his fellow-citizens that he was called
“Father” by common consent. It was a title of
affection, and also of esteem and admiration; and his character and
conduct conferred a new grace and dignity upon that appellation.
(AD, 21 Nov 1906, CU-MARK)
The audience listened with great attention
throughout, evidently enjoying the lecturer’s eloquence,
his vivid descriptions, and his serious comments, and the wit, humor
and jokes, about equally. If the lecturer had been himself among the
audience he could hardly have judged better of the variety that
would be pleasing. Perhaps we might make a single exception. There
may have been a trifle too much cannibal. In the serious passages of the lecture the
audience showed their appreciation by their still, intent listening.
There was much useful, curious, and even startling information
concerning the people. The natural beauties, charming climate, and
wonderful volcano were painted in glowing words with a pleasing
voice and manner. (“Mark Twain’s
Lecture,” 1 Feb 73, clipping in Scrapbook 6:129, CU-MARK) This review may have been written by Orion Clemens, who was working for
the Evening Post at this time (25
Sept 72 to OLC, n. 11).
Source text(s):Previous publication:
L5, 287–290; “The Poor of Hartford and the
Sandwich Islands,” Hartford Courant, 29
Jan 73, 2; “The Poor of Hartford—a Card from Mark
Twain,” Hartford Times, 29 Jan 73, 2.
Emendations and textual notes:
& ... & ... & • and ... and ... and [here and hereafter]
&c. • etc.
great • great | great
Brown & • Brown
some • so me
